Biography

Karena Shaw, B.A, M.A., Ph.D.

Associate Professor, School of Environmental Studies

Dr. Karena (Kara) is Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Studies, a member of the Cultural, Social and Political Thought Graduate Program and the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems. A political theorist by training, she is particularly interested in how contemporary environmental challenges are reshaping political space and possibility. She has published in the areas of feminist theory, indigenous politics, and environmental politics, and was co-director of The Clayoquot Project.

Prior to coming to UVic she was a Teaching Fellow at Keele University in the UK. Current research projects include: "Local/Global Environmental Governance: Meeting Contemporary Challenges of Scale," a SSHRC-funded research program exploring the governance implications of contemporary environmental campaigns; "Reshaping Possibility: Climate Change, Energy Systems and Environmentalism," a project exploring the challenges and possibilities faced in efforts to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Book-length publications include A Political Space: Reading the Global Through Clayoquot Sound, co-edited with Warren Magnusson (McGill-Queen's University Press: 2003), and Political Theory and Indigeneity: Sovereignty and the Limits of the Political (Routledge Press: 2008). Kara was the recipient of the 2009 Social Science Award for Teaching Excellence.

Kara holds a B.A. (1990) from University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (1999) from the Johns Hopkins University.